30 Days Hath September 2016 | Day 26 | Another September by Lydia Cortes

September 26, 2016

Another September

Mami believed in the good and the bad clear

Cut black and white back in 1957 when in black

And white we watched cowboy TV shows

A bit into the story she’d interrupt the

Narrative with her who’s and who’s

¿Quien es el malo?

¿Quien es el bueno?

She’d interrupt many many times

Though the good one she’d guess

By the color of his hat and outfit

The one in white no?

¿El blanco no?

The bad one black head to toe?

¿El negro no?

In those days it was easy to tell

The good from the bad

But she wanted to be doubly sure

To keep her good and bad in their place

Mami was afraid for ese Martin Luther King Jr.

We saw on TV and the kids in Arkansas

King was el negrito bueno still if he didn’t watch it

That negrito bueno was gonna get himself killed

Was gonna get those poor nine niños most

Dressed in pure white killed in Little Rock

Killed didn’t matter if they too were

Good like los buenos in the TV shows

That he looked like el buen negrito

That he was a minister hombre de Dios

Wasn’t good enough Mami lamented

Couldn’t he just keep good and quiet

Looking like the all in white cowboys los buenos

Deep down Mami always knew who were the good

To pray was ok but non violence she feared

Was asking for it…

!Ay bendito!

Lydia Cortes, a Williamsburg, Brooklyn born Puerto Rican, also lived in Rome. Two collections of poetry are Lust for LustandWhose Place. Her work appears in The Anthology of Puerto Rican Poetry: (Aboriginal to Contemporary Times); Breaking Ground, Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York; Monologues From the Road (a play); Through the Kitchen Window; and in Phati’tude Literary Magazine. In August, Upstreet literary magazine, published her poetry in their #12 issue. She is working on a memoir in verses, in whichAnother September will appear.